FEDERATION OF NORTHERN CHESTER COUNTY COMMUNITIES

 

Charles Jacob, Chair Lisa Lacroix, Vice Chair Miriam Newman, Secretary Stan Stubbe, Treasurer

P.O.Box 130 lisadan88@comcast.net newman.miriam2@gmail.com 1438 Shaner Drive
St. Peters, PA 19470 Pottstown, PA 19465
warwicktwp@aol.com csstubbe@gmail.com

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF APRIL 9, 2013

Municipal Members:
Charles Jacob Warwick
Lisa Lacroix West Pikeland
Karen Nocella East Coventry
Stan Stubbe North Coventry

Guests:
Cathie Whitlock South Coventry
Janice Houck Warwick

Call to Order – Chairman Jacob called the meeting to order at 7:09 p.m.

Review of Minutes of March 13, 2013: Motion to approve by Stan Stubbe, seconded by Lisa Lacroix. All in favor.

Treasurer’s Report: Present balances remain unchanged from the meeting of March 13. No action taken.

Request from West Pikeland Supervisors: The Board of Supervisors, West Pikeland, is looking at a tract of land which is on the PROS Plan as a possible site for a sports facility. The Natural Lands Trust is seeking a grant for a conservation partnership in this regard. The land in question is west of the intersection of Routes 401 and 113. Chairman Jacob read to the group the contents of a proposed letter of support from The Northern Federation. Motion to submit letter to West Pikeland Township by Stan Stubbe, seconded by Lisa Lacroix. All in favor.

Presentation: Ron Bailey, Executive Director of the Chester County Planning Commission, gave an update on the Landscapes program. An online training program for new Planning Commission members is being formulated. A sample version is available on the county web site. There is also a list of other online resources. By the end of the year, the final program should be in place and YouTube videos will be available. Material currently can be found at www.chesco.org. Click on Planning Commission. “Discover the Future” at www.chescopagreen.org is developing e-tools related to planning for their web site. Currently, there are pages available on TDR’s, water conservation designs and practices, rural zoning, bicycle and pedestrian facilities design, greenways, effective agricultural zoning, etc. Examples of actual applications are included. www.landscapes2.org has county policies.

A first round of Vision Partnership program grant applications is wrapping up. The County Planning Commission will make their recommendations to the Commissioners within the next two weeks. A second round of grant applications will commence in June. Historically, some applications have been incomplete and the Planning Commission has worked with municipalities to improve the applications, which are then sometimes funded in the second round or funding is obtained from another source

A Transportation Improvement Inventory or TII is being implemented. The Planning Commission wants to identify needs in each municipality. This will serve as the basis of putting together funding priorities and enables the Planning Commission to meet with Transportation Improvement Program officials and Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. They must adopt a program to be accepted by the State and approved by the Federal Department of Transportation. Trails are included under transportation. Municipalities have been polled. The information they provide will be compiled and evaluated. County priorities in transportation are negotiated with County Commissioners and State Representatives so a coordinated request can be made to the State Transportation Commission. Chester County Planning Commission will appear before them in the fall.

The Keystone Rail Line has been affected by a law passed three years ago making rail services the responsibility of the State Government rather than the Federal Government. There will be no Federal dollars available as of October. The Keystone Line will be upgraded to 130 mph for express trains. With improvements on the Northeast Corridor funded by the Federal government, this should result in shortened travel times. SEPTA does not envision any long-term capital improvements for the next 30 years. A new, modern rail system to King of Prussia is essential. The county will do a partial revision of their Comprehensive Plan that hopefully will encompass new means of developing a plan with the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission and transit management agencies.

Announcements: There will be a meeting of the By-Laws Committee on April 24 at 7 p.m. at the Warwick Township building.

There being no further business, a motion was made by Stan Stubbe to adjourn at 8:15 p.m., seconded by Lisa Lacroix. All in favor.

Respectfully submitted:

Miriam Newman

Secretary

Next Meeting: Tuesday, May 14 at 7:00 p.m. at the Warwick Township building